Football games depend in many instances on the location and placement of a football within a distance of inches. For example, the football is spotted or located a number of times in a series of downs. Heretofore, the method by which the ball has been spotted or located has been for an official to mark or locate the ball with his foot, toss the ball to a hash mark, if necessary, and for the sideline official to place a marker corresponding with the nose of the football on one edge of the playing field. As has been obvious in the past, this method can be inaccurate. Because visual determinations are difficult and as the contour of the field tends to increase the difficulty of visual sightings, the proper placement and measurement of the football may be quite inaccurate.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus by which a football may be accurately located on a football field utilizing a measuring beam which is constantly perpendicular to the sideline of a playing field and which can be moved perpendicular to the sideline. A beam receptor is carried by an official on the field which provides a signal when the receptor is positioned in alignment with the beam whereby a football may be located or positioned on the field by its relative position to the receptor.